So far I have

Lanark (pairs) 06/05

Baberton 30/06

Longniddry 08/07

Bothwell Castle 04/08

East Kilbride 18/08

Will be adding in a few more not open yet eg Hamilton pairs and West Kilbride in June, Royal Burgess in Sept. Hopefully I can get my hcp down a bit as one or two I'd like to play seem to be quite strict, though others just use a maximum in the competition but you can still enter if above that.

HNY to all hackers. Last year was a disaster hcp index moving from 21 to nearly 28 

So being fairly sure it can't get any worse, I've already entered 5 senior opens. Unfortunately more and more clubs are joining in on the imo sharp practice of opening entries in autumn '25 for opens in summer '26. So they have chunks of money in their bank account getting interest, but people pulling out close to the event. 

Other plans for 2026 is doing a chin up sometime soon.

Is that a "good" exercise in middle age? Don't know what age you are exactly, but are you into the mystery injury phase of life? Where inexplicable twinges and sprains start happening?  They usually clear up quickly, but putting a lot of stress on the arms seems like asking for it.

HNY btw

Merry Xmas and happy new year when it comes Tom.

It is redic how much of our modern society hangs by threads that can be snipped at any time. And more redic that we are being ruled by angry men arguing and fighting with each other about things that don't matter, instead of trying to secure humanity's future. 

The problem with ignoring things rather than disputing them, is that you are dealing with a business that has a profitable process to deal with people that ignore the demands. This might involve extra charges, court, debt collecters etc. It is that process you have initiated by ignoring rather than disputing.

So have you contacted the hotel? If not, do so and state your name, date of stay and reg number and ask them to cancel.

Language can sometimes be a problem but they get used to the swearing after a while  

 

Prob not heading south this winter, but will def try it out next time.

 played with a couple of English guys

Eck, is it easy to join up with ppl at these courses? Particularly when the course is busy.

I knew a pretty decent defence lawyer who was also a good poker player. He tried to base his poker strategy mainly on stealing blinds and trying to read the opponent on being played back. He also read a lot of "body language reading" books etc to try and work out if witnesses at trials were lying. Though I'm not sure what good he thought that would do. Another friend said he decided criminal law wasn't for him, when, during a case it was obvious that, the prosecutor was lying, the police were lying, the accused and defence witnesses were lying and he wasn't even sure about the Sheriff.....

Anyway, on the topic, the concept of a trial (not in Scotland) is that massive variations in evidence lead to a binary guilty/not guilty. From "ironcast" dna and ten witnesses plus cc cameras to, what I suspect might be the majority, the police think this person commited a crime and have various bits and pieces of evidence and witnesses. So someone innocent and someone guilty can be put on trial with very similar evidence. Now a judge has seen this all before, many times, so does he apply "beyond reasonable doubt" the same way a jury would? I suspect not.   

Yes, I think that's the case, Ralph. But they have also increased the duty on online sports bets, so there is now a difference between the same bet placed in a betting shop and online - I wonder if they will at least offer the same prices in shops, as I think they tend to be lower.

At the moment betting exchanges are also staying unchanged at 15% and will do so unless they change from what they announced in terms of new legislation. Maybe Flutter will promote Betfair exchange more on the basis that they have an advantage over competitors.

They claim that they want online gaming (which unfortunately includes poker) to be a less viable product, thus discouraging investment and promotion. They would rather that investment went to B&M gaming which is less damaging (in their opinion) and employs more ppls.

re social media I just think that like smoking, we should be raising generations who simply don't use it.

The phrase "if you're not the customer, you must be the product" has never been more apt in the last ten years or so. These companies do not care in the least about what is said on their platforms, only that it raises money through adverts.

imo the structure of social media should be first personal contacts (everything you post only goes to these contacts and similarly you see only what they post), then you can subscribe to publishers, (who are all identified and have an address and are liable for what they post and can face sanctions). The hope is with that structure hate and disinformation is slowed to the extent that it can be countered.  But that is never going to happen.

Think it's a great idea and should be replicated worldwide. And in two years time the age should be increased to 18, then 20 etc

I came by to see if anyone had noticed that Rachel Reeves has struck a cool 40% rakeback deal on all the online poker played in the UK.  I can't imagine that offering games to UK folk will be very profitable. That tikay scampered just in time.

Glad to hear you're home and getting better.

+1

Never heard of septic arthritis so I'll be googling that.

Don't do that! You should only google symptoms that you have. Nothing good can come of googling conditions you don't have.

 

Ladies and gentlemen I have done it. I started out this year about 12 and went up to nearly 14 on WHS. Played a lot and truly wasn't inspiring but was getting a bit better, driving got better and I now am under double figures for the first time ever.

Sorry if this seems like I am always chirping but it has been coincident with my best run at golf and i'm playing so much more, probably about 3 times a week now when before when it was maybe once or twice a week.

Anyways i did it, Chuffed to fuck.





Should get someone to video my swing and Tom can take it apart like he did with my fry up....

First class Eck!

Yes, that's where I worked as well, though it was Prudential then. Now a collection of derelict buildings